RE- L.E.D. lamps
They have now improved to the stage where they can out perform other types of light (in certain respects). We used a 7 segment LED head lamp during the carlisle floods (4aaa batteries lasted over a week of 14 hr days) Light output was good for general working but would not campare to a xenon flashlite. Blackspur now do a 4/8 LED headlight for £5, I used this for reading but found that using 8 was too bright and 4 was quite good. The light was very light too! The LED's give a fairly directional white light which looks "cold".
If you want general lighting for an area you could do better with a gas / petrol/ parafin light known as a "tilley light" This works by burning the fuel through a "mantle" causing it to give off a brilliant light! This is held within a glas shell and the lamp can be stood on a table or hung from a tree to give a greater spread of light. They do get HOT though, not so bad in cold weather! Coleman make a fairly good petrol (unleaded) vertion but these used to cost £30.00 about 20 years ago....I can't see them getting cheaper now!